Wetland Indicators

Wetland Indicators and Coefficients of Conservatism are very helpful in selecting native plants for habitat restoration and native plant landscaping projects. Wetland Indicators have been used and refined over the last several decades and are very beneficial in helping habitat restoration and native plant landscaping practitioners determine the placement of native plants according to their soil moisture preference. For example, plants with an OBL or FACW indicator should be selected for wet areas, while UPL and FACU plants should be selected for dry soil situations. Since Wetland Indicators now include upland plants, they are often referred to as Habitat Indicators. Indicator Codes are further described below:

Indicator Code	Plant Habitat-type	Explanation
OBL	Obligate Wetland	Occurs almost always (99%) under natural conditions in wetlands.
FACW	Facultative Wetland	Usually occurs in wetlands (67-99%), but occasionally found in non-wetlands.
FAC	Facultative	Equally likely to occur in wetlands or non-wetlands.
FACU	Facultative Upland	Usually occurs in non-wetlands (67-99%), but occasionally found on wetlands.
UPL	Obligate Upland	Occurs almost always (99%) under natural conditions in non-wetlands
N/A	No agreement	Species was undecided

Coefficients of Conservatism (CoC):

Coefficients of Conservatism are relatively new and still confusing to the general practitioner. The values represent on a scale of 1-10 how "conservative" (or how strong of an affinity) a native plant has to a particular habitat-type. Plants with low CoC values are not very conservative (do not have a strong affinity) to any one habitat, and under natural conditions are found in a wide range of habitats. Generally speaking, low CoC plants are more typically found in disturbed habitats, and high CoC plants are more typically found in undisturbed habitats. For example, Blood Root (Sanguinaria canadensis) has a KY CoC value of 8 because it is generally restricted to rich deciduous woods without a lot of human disturbance. Seldom is Blood Root naturally found in other habitats, and seldom can it be forced to grow successfully in highly disturbed habitats. All non-native species have a CoC value of 0.

The majority of states, through State Natural Heritage Programs and similar state agencies, have developed their own CoC lists. We provide Kentucky and Ohio CoC values for each native plant we have in stock.

USDA Plants Database

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